Now stay with me…I started at Missio Dei and jumped over to Sarcastic Lutheran.

When I got to Nadia’s blog her most recent post was about a free album called Hope For A Tree Cut Down from Church of the Beloved. So I clicked on that link. Turns out the album is available for free and it is hauntingly beautiful. If you have trouble getting to Church of the Beloved (I had a little trouble – probably because they are getting a lot of hits) you can find it on ITunes as a podcast for free.

The title of the album is taken from Job 14:7-9:

At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.

Here are some good words about the album:

From their website, “That is what we are discovering together at Church of the Beloved – a hope. Hope that something new is beginning that has very old roots. Hope that God is growing life out of our devastation, trust out of our cynicism, love out of our fear, community out of our isolation…. And that’s what this album is about – fumbling into God’s grace. It is a seismic and humble shift when our heart can hear the words that God has been saying to us for all our lives, ‘…nothing can separate you from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus’. These songs say ‘Yes’ to God’s claim upon your life that, ‘You are my Beloved.’”

From elnellis.com : Some highly creative and generous friends over at Church of the Beloved have recorded a fantastic set of music that stands in the spiritual and musical traditions of Sufjan, Colbalt Season and Over the Rhine- it evokes similar worshipful and emotive responses for me. This is an exemplary demonstration of contextual, local and indigenous worship that has come out of a faith community that is in touch with their creativity:

If you do download the record please share your appreciation with the folks who put this together. Please email them or leave a comment at their site.